Mystery of the Rose Murder
by Ouji-sama
Summary: Ok...someone is found dead in Ohtori...and Utena gets a big vengance thing going because of it. You'll see why.
1. Rose Scented Murder

Disclaimer: All Shoujo Kakumei Utena belong to Chiho Saito.

She walked home in the middle of the night, not a very smart thing to do, even within the confines of the elite academy of Ohtori. She was humming along to a new tape that Miki had recorded for her of his piano playing. She so loved to listen to the rich sounds of the piano, and Miki was the best player she knew, except, he said, for Anthy Himemiya.

She heard a sound from her left as she stopped to turn the tape over to the other side. She slowly removed one earphone to better hear where the sound was coming from. She listened for a full minute before shrugging, about to replace the earphone.

...But there it was again. A sort of rustling sound from the bushes surrounding the rose garden. She turned towards the sound, curious as to who would be out so late at night besides herself.

"Hello? Is anybody there? It's not funny, whoever you are. That better not be you, Yohiki! This isn't funny!"

But then the person presented themselves. She gasped. The person she saw made her blood run cold.

"N-no...how did you get here? I thought you couldn't-"

"Shh...That doesn't matter now. I'm here to take back what you stole from me."

In a flash, the shadowed person had her by the arm, twisting it behind her, the other leather clad hand covering her mouth. She tried to bite and kick and scream, of course, but it was no use. They were too strong for her. They dragged her into the rose garden, and Wakaba Shinohara was never seen again.

...Not alive, anyway...


	2. Her Body

Anthy and Utena woke up to a normal morning, lots of "Wake up, Miss Utena, we'll be late!" and "Five more minutes..." until Chu Chu bit Utena on the nose. They went to their morning classes, and the only time Utena got worried that whole morning was when she noticed that Wakaba hadn't shown up for any of them.

"Hey, Anthy, where do you think Wakaba is? She's never missed a day of school in her life."

"I'm sure I don't know, Miss Utena. Perhaps she's sick?"

Utena shook her head. "Nah...Wakaba would go anyway. She thinks she'll nab either me or some cute guy if she pumps info into her brain. Hm..maybe that's why she's got such a big forehead... Anyway. You better go water the roses. I'll meet you under the oak,kay?"

Anthy giggled on the slight play on the word and nodded. "I won't be long, Miss Utena."

They went their seperate ways, Utena to the tree and Anthy to her garden. She stopped to fill her watering can, humming her favorite melody and tapping the toe of her shoe before continuing to the garden. She pushed the door open and dropped the watering can, her hands flying to her mouth as her eyes widened in abject horror. The stench of blood was too much for her, and she dropped to her knees, vomiting on the ground. She wiped her mouth with her knuckles and looked over again.

The body of Wakaba Shinohara was naked, laying on the ground, but you couldn't see any recognizable part of her body.She was tightly wrapped in cords of barbed wire, deeply cutting into her skin. The signs of her own struggle within the coils was the fact that her pale skin was torn to shreds, and there were strokes of blood along the floor, as if some insane painter were using her as a brush.

Her throat was brutally hacked open, to the point where her neck was hanging by nothing more then threads of muscle and sinew. But the thing that most disturbed Anthy was that a rose was stuck into her mouth, with the stem poking through the opening in her neck. She got up and stumbled over and saw that Wakaba's eyes had been gouged out. A sob of dispair welled up in Anthy. Her eyes...her big beautiful brown eyes... She looked away and saw that Wakaba's uniform was neatly folded beside her body, splattered in blood, and her shoes were placed next to them, as if they were to be worn the next day for school.

Anthy scooped the bloody uniform into her arms and hugged it close, sobbing. She walked out, still holding onto Wakaba's clothes, and found a teacher. "Please...help...help her..."

She showed him Wakaba's blood stained clothes.

"Hmm? Miss Himemiya? What's wrong? Has something happened?"

She lead him to the garden, where he recoiled as he peered inside. "Good Lord..."

Utena came up. "Hey, Anthy, what's taking so long? I had to stop Chu Chu from eating your lunch. Anthy? Anthy, what's wrong?"

She looked at the teacher as he gibbered into a phone about a body. Utena went cold. Body? She approached the door to the garden, and Anthy whispered, "Please..Miss Utena..don't go in there." But she did anyway.

When she saw Wakaba's cold and bloody corpse, she walked over, sank to her knees, and lifted her limp body to herself, crying as she pressed her face against her friend, ignoring how the barbed wire cut into her, and didn't even feel when Anthy put her arms around her.


	3. Attempt

The next few days were the worst for Anthy and Utena. Utena had gone entirely mute, and the police wouldn't stop asking Anthy questions. When the police got the autopsy report, they let Utena and Anthy see only because they were the closest thing to family Wakaba had had left. The report showed that Wakaba had most likely been killed around one in the morning. No one knew what she had been doing out that late. From what was left of her body, they found evidence of rape. On a patch of her leg that hadn't been torn apart by the barbed wire, they found a purple and red bruise. Most likely caused by being pushed against one of the flower beds. A small piece of torn skin had been found on the thorn of a rose.

The next day in Biology, they had to dissect frogs, and everyone was depressed and dejected looking. Many people had been friends with Wakaba, and even those who hadn't known her personally had thought she was nice. As Utena sat on her stool, looking down at the lifeless frog, she snapped. Tears came forward in torrents, streaming down her cheeks, her shoulders shaking from the harsh, racking sobs coming from her.

Every head turned to see Utena, their wonderful Utena, sieze the lab knife, and in a blink, slashed her left wrist wide open. One of the girls screamed as blood gushed everywhere. Anthy grabbed a clean towel and forced the wound closed by pushing Utena's wrist forward while tying the towel around the wrist. It quickly became red and started to drip blood.

The teacher grabbed Utena and picked her up, rushing her out of the room as Anthy followed. He took her to the clinic, yelling for an attendant. Anthy sat in the waiting room, eyes downcast, hands folded neatly in her lap. To anyone looking, they would never have guessed that Anthy was crying. Silent, gentle tears left small, shimmering lines on her dark cheeks.

After what seemed like a lifetime, the doctor came up to Anthy and told her that Utena had requested to see her. She got up and went into the room. She saw Utena laying there with her eyes closed, and for one sick moment, Anthy thought she was dead. But then Utena opened her eyes and smiled at Anthy. It was a small, tired smile, but to Anthy it was the most beautiful thing in the world.

She sat in the chair next to Utena's bed and kept quiet, knowing her voice would betray her. She wanted that moment to last. The smile, and that the fear that she had just now almost lost the singe most important person in her life, was gone.

"Anthy...you're crying..."

Utena reached up wearily to brush Anthy's tears away. But this only made her cry more, because seeing the gauze bandage wrapped tight around her wrist made Anthy realize just how frail Utena looked.

"Oh...Oh, Anthy...I'm so sorry..."

She tried to sit up, she looked so pale. Anthy shook her head and made Utena lie back down with a gentle hand to her shoulder.

"No, Miss Utena. Don't try to get up. You need to rest."

Utena flashed her her most winning smile.

"What, this? Just a flesh wound."

But she saw Anthy cry all the more, at this.

"Anthy..I'm sorry. Bad joke. I shouldn't be joking at a time like this..."

Anthy shook her head.

"Miss Utena...why? Why wold you do this?"

Utena sighed. "Yeah...I'm sorry, Anthy. I was so mad with gried...I didn't think about what you'd have to go through...Probably would hae had to go back to Saionji..."

"But that's not it, Miss Utena! Why would you do this to yourself? What about your aunt, or all the other girls here? What about Wakaba? Would she want this?"

Utena looked away.

"You're right, Anthy. I'm sorry. I won't do it again. I promise. Pinky swear."

She held up a fist with her pinky stuck out. Anthy hesitated before leaning forward and curling her pinky around Utena's. Then Utena leaned up and kissed Anthy on the forehead.

"Let's go home, Anthy. I'm sleepy. And hungry...and thirsty..."

Anthy smiled a little. "Would you like me to make you something, Miss Utena?"

Utena thought for a moment before answering.

"Mmm...no...I think it'd be safer if we orderd something."

To Utena's surprise, Anthy began to giggle, which set her off on her own fit, and as Anthy wheeled Utena home, they kept giggling a little, and when they had thought they were done, one of them would start again, bringing the whole thing back.

When they got home, they ordered food, and ate in silence, their mirth gone in the rememberence of Wakaba.


End file.
